"over one hundred orchid species and hybrids at Wong's Orchid Farm in Kampong Sungai Liang.
... Wong Leong Swee and Chai Sai Yun has been working on their three-acre farm for nearly 30 years, and mainly supply their fresh orchids to local florists. Mrs Wang said she spends at least 10 hours in the greenhouse on a daily basis together with her husband and two workers. "This does not include pruning the fresh orchid joints and re-packaging them if there is a huge demand to cater for grand events or from florists," she said. On the daily tasks of maintaining the farm, Mrs Wong said all it takes is a little tender care. It is not a difficult task since she has a passion for orchids since she was a teenager. Looking back through all the years of hardship in starting up the farm, she never expected her hobby would turn into a money-making business, in addition to her husband's outgrowing interest in the field of gardening. Her passion, which she expressed in her farm, landed her two achievement prizes from the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources called "Anugerah Pengusaha Berjaya" for farming decoration category at the Food and Agriculture Carnival in 2005 and Best Farm at the Project Padi Wasan in 2003. Her normal day-to-day task in the farm includes watering, feeding and fertilising. She said light is the most important factor to successfully raise and bloom orchids. Most in-home temperatures will be acceptable for growing orchids. Different orchid species have different light requirements, but the types of orchid species in her garden requires partly shaded greenhouse. There should also be no excessive watering as most orchids require at least some air circulation in their roots. And to keep pests away, they develop a... spraying programme of insecticides. It is not cheap to maintain an orchid farm, and for the Wong's Orchid Farm, it costs them at least $3,000 a month in expenses. They advised orchid enthusiasts, who wish to embark on commercial growing of orchid species and hybrids, to consider several factors such as how much time do they want to spend, available capital, whether they are interested in, growing plants, and have available and suitable growing area. ... said Mrs Wong. ... Not only limited to growing typically found orchid species and hybrids, Wong's Orchid Farm also grows the rare Borneo Orchid species for $30 per joint... Wong's said... orchid growing can become an obsession. But such dedication can bring immense rewards and a lifetime of pleasure, added Mrs Wong." article URL : http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/Jan07/150107/nite16.htm *********** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
